ANNOUNCING: Veteran’s Tales, a website for Veteran’s by Veterans

I’m extra pleased to announce the launching of a new website, by veteran’s for veterans, called “Veteran’s’ Tales”. I’ve been fortunate to join with Allen Ness, US Army Paratrooper, Master Sergeant, Retired, and Dave Poff, aka Haystack from RedState.com fame, to form a new 501 (3) c website, “Veterans’ Tales”.

I’m really excited about this program because it seems veterans have no place where they can go and share stories with their mates. And the world.

A lot of lost history there, and we mean to restore as much as we can, including letters and photos from family albums going back as far those family histories will provide, including extracting some poignant letters and stories from known works, such as Ernie Pyle, and Bill Mauldin.

I think this is a site of first instance.

***The basic premise will be based on military members’ encounters with people in surrounding communities, both in the US and abroad. As you know veterans have keener eyes and sensibilities about ordinary people, and it’s long been a goal of mine to restore that connection, which I began with my “Famous Common People I have Known” essays.

It was my short Lent Season story, here, about my Jeepney driver, Benny, in the Philippines in 1974 that caused some veterans to contact me and suggest this site.

But I also expect there will be other more sober and cathartic tales, as well; stories military members have kept buried for years. As a legal officer in the Far East during the Vietnam War I spent countless hours counseling with soldiers, from E-3 to Captain, about more sobering tales from Vietnam, Japan and Korea.

***The site is under construction, VeteransTales.org, and we need to raise money to carry us through the start-up, about 6 months, at which time we hope to have several thousand regular viewers. Right now our people are working without pay, but we plan to carry three (3) salaried positions.

A dedicated Donor site will be set up within the week. Every donor will be highlighted on a separate Sponsor page, but all the donors in this start-up phase will be specially recognized as Founders, regardless of the size of their donation.

***Most importantly, please pass this note onto to your friends, especially veterans and any local organizations you know who support veterans. We would like to establish some collaborations with them. And if you have stories, just from around the dinner table, I encourage you to share them.

I’ll post an update once the site is fully functional.

It will be easy to register, and write a Tale, as well as Recommend others’ Tales, and to comment, be part of the conversation. We will have moderators keeping the trolls outside the gate. Rules of conduct will also apply.

Since military members often call a spade a fritizing shovel, language will not be one of them, except for 2-3 words. But this will not be a political site, except where love of country is involved. I can think of all sorts of 4-letter words that will be allowed before mean and vicious language.

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Unhyphenated American female, born and raised in the Empire State and who like most New Yorkers, in spite of being a registered Democrat, I voted for the candidate, not the party which meant voting often across party lines throughout the years.
In 2008, coming to terms once and for all with the fact that Democrats and I had nothing in common, I left the liberal cesspool forever. Of course, I now have a grudge to settle after decades of being lied to and so I blog to right the wrongs and expose the lies.